The annual PGA Merchandise Show is always a spectacle with a few football fields worth of apparel, equipment, travel destinations and plenty in between.
Here are just a couple of things we found interesting:
SUPERSPEED GOLF: Maybe it doesn’t make sense to slow down your club speed after all. SuperSpeed Golf (superspeedgolf.com) would like to help you quicken your swing speed with a training aid that has three colour-coded sticks: one 20% lighter than your driver, another 10% lighter and one 5% heavier. More than 30 PGA Tour pros are using the training device.
“What we’ve found is heavy is actually the exact opposite of what you want to do to train speed,” a SuperSpeed Golf spokesman said. “Olympic athletes train speed with decreased resistance, they train strength with heavy resistance. If we’re looking at speed, lighter is the key.”
STICK IT: Monument Golf has a solution for a common problem on the golf course: A magnetic golf towel. Explained Brent Steffens, Director of Marketing for Monument Golf: “What started for us as a magnetic rangefinder strap evolved into the magnetic towel. It sticks to the cart posts, it also sticks to clubs so it won’t fall off in the bag as you’re driving up the fairway. This promotes taking the towel to the green, when you’re done you don’t have to bend over to collect everything. You just pick the towel up (with your club) and go.” Expected to be in retail stores in April, the towel has a removable patch. Said Steffens: “This is really important for washing and drying — you wash the towel only, not the patch.” Available in the Traveling Golfer store – shop.travelinggolfer.net
TOYS FOR BOYS (AND GIRLS): Got my hands on, but haven’t tried yet – the GEN i1, what’s being called “the world’s first smart golf ball.” Using an app, you can see metrics that help you fix your putting … I did have a chance to try Elixr golf balls, from a Buffalo company OnCore (oncoregolf.com), which was on Golf Digest’s Hot List in 2017 … Another thing that caught my eye was something called FlingGolf (flinggolf.com), sort of a hybrid between lacrosse and golf. Using a FlingStick (there’s a small basket with a cradle), you hurl the golf ball down the course … Also liked the Golf Elevator, a gadget that’s like a kickstand. It raises your club’s grip about six inches up off the turf. It screws into the vent hole in the top of any grip in seconds.
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March 2018